8 June 5, 2022The Sunday Times
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TWISTS
How one couple’s dream new-build was delayed
by badgers and a bust builder. By Victoria Jenkins
WILLIAM GODDARDthe look of a thatched one.
The site is sloped, so the
house had to be set more than
a metre into the ground at its
deepest point. “The form
follows a simple L-shaped
pattern with the principle
three-storey element running
north to south and a
secondary two-storey wing
positioned perpendicular,”
Hayward says.
Gaining outline planning
consent took almost four
months. “The planning officer
worked part time,” Jan recalls.
“Hurdles included a difficult
tree officer who was against
our thinning out of the densely
planted woodland. Then the
local council insisted we
adjust the bank and stone
retaining wall, which gives
on to the lane, to increase
visibility for drivers at the
junction to the main road.
In all there were 19 conditions.
“We had to secure
permission for the removal
of almost a hundred trees,”
Jan says. “But when it came to
building the 70m access road
to the proposed plot, the
planners said it would runwithin 25m of the badger sett
in the far corner of the garden
so that section would have
to be built by hand to avoid
disturbing them.” The couple
pointed out that within inches
of the other side of the sett ran
the village’s main street.
“Our pleas fell on deaf ears,”
he says. “The delay and costs
in achieving the planning
permissions were huge.”
The total outlay for the
surveys, plus the fees for the
costs consultant, architect,
construction, design and
management co-ordinator,
landscape architect, lighting
designer and solicitor, plus the
site insurance and financing
charges, came to about
£125,000. “It’s no wonder
this country has a housing
shortage,” Jan says.
Another setback happened
almost immediately, as
the contractors for the
superstructure caused delays
before going bust. “They were
meant to begin in March,
appeared with their drawings
in July and then, without
informing us, subcontracted
the superstructure erectionW
hen Jan
and Diana
Thompson
spotted a
gate lodge
for sale in their Oxfordshire
village, they looked beyond
the property and imagined
how their dream home would
sit within the wooded plot.
Here, among hundreds of
trees, planted from seed by
a previous owner, the couple
could design a home in which
to enjoy their retirement in
style. “I could see this would
make a fantastic spot, but we
can’t believe the hoops we had
to jump through to get there,”
Jan says.
Four years — including
landscaping, highway and
traffic surveys, a “difficult”
tree officer, one badger sett,
a builder who went bust
— and £1 million later, their
eco-haven is complete.
“The design is a modern
interpretation of the north
Oxfordshire vernacular,” says
Simon Hayward of Hayward
Smart Architects, who
oversaw the project. For
instance the zinc roof reflects